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Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Battle of the upper mid-rangers

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Last updated: March 17th, 2022 at 15:26 UTC+01:00

The overwhelming consensus among fans and enthusiasts alike is that the Galaxy S21 FE arrived a tad too late for its own good, especially when the objectively better Galaxy S22 can be had for just a bit more money. But, how does it hold up against the shiny new Galaxy A73? Let's find out.

Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Performance

The primary difference between the Galaxy A73 and the Galaxy S21 FE lies in their cameras and SoC. The Galaxy S21 FE, being a “Fan Edition” smartphone, packs a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. On the other hand, the Galaxy A73 5G runs a Snapdragon 750G. Right off the bat, the Snapdragon 888 is a newer SoC with ARM's shiny new Cortex-X1 and Cortex-A78 cores.

On the other hand, the Snapdragon 778G relies on the previous-generation Cortex-A78 cores for all performance-intensive tasks. It packs an upgraded GPU, too and performs better overall, although it does tend to get a bit toasty under load. 

Even though there is more to a smartphone than just its SoC, the Galaxy S21 FE is a better device if you're in the market for a workhorse. Both phones pack a 120 Hz AMOLED screen, so their visual fidelity should be on par with each other.

Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Cameras

A lot of Samsung's marketing material around the Galaxy A73 is centred around the fact that it is the first Galaxy A series smartphone to run a 108 MP primary camera sensor. In contrast, the Galaxy S21 FE uses an aging 12 MP sensor to do all the heavy listing.

The raw megapixel count doesn't necessarily reflect the image capturing prowess of a camera, but the Galaxy A73 should, at least on paper, outperform the Galaxy S21 FE in that regard. Unlike its predecessor, the Galaxy A72, the Galaxy A73 trades its telephoto sensor for a practically useless 5 MP depth sensor. On the other hand, the Galaxy S21 FE has an 8 MP zoom lens, so that is something to look out for.

Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Final thoughts

There aren't too many parameters that set the Galaxy A73 apart from the Galaxy S21 FE. The former packs a marginally larger 5,000 mAh battery compared to the former's 4,500 mAh cell, both of which support 25 W fast charging.

There are a few minor differences here and there, such as an IP68 rating for the Galaxy S21 FE and IP67 for the Galaxy A73. Does this mean that we write off the mid-ranger entirely? Not quite, because it still retains the micro SD card slot, something that is missing on the Galaxy S21 FE. Software support could be a sore spot, too, as the Galaxy A73 is slated to run Android 12 with One UI 4.1 on top.

Samsung
Galaxy S21 FE

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General Information

  • Model Name

    Galaxy A73 5G

    Galaxy S21 FE

  • Model type

    Bar

    Bar

  • Colors

    Black (Awesome Black)White (Awesome White)Peach (Awesome Peach)Blue (Awesome Blue)

    Graphite ()Lavender ()Olive ()White ()

  • Announced

    2022, March

    2022, January

  • Released

    2022, April

Physical specifications

  • Dimensions

    Bar: 163.7 x 76.1 x 7.6 mm

    Bar: 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9 mm

  • Weights

    181g

    177g

  • IP rating

    IP68

Operating system

  • Operating system

    Android 12

    Android 12

  • One UI version

    4.1

    4.0

Networks

  • SIM

    Dual SIM model

    Dual SIM model

  • SIM card sizes

    Nano-SIM (4FF)

    Nano-SIM (4FF)

  • Networks

    2G3G4G5G

    2G3G4G5G

  • eSIM support

    No

    No

Display

  • Kind

    Main Display

  • Name

    Infinity-O Display

    Infinity-O Display

  • Technology

    Super AMOLED Display

    Dynamic AMOLED 2X

  • Size

    6.7 inch / 170.18 mm

    6.4 inch / 162.6 mm

  • Resolution

    FHD+ / 2400x1080 pixels

    FHD+ / 2400x1080 pixels

  • Pixel density

    394 PPI

    411 PPI

  • Refresh rate

    120Hz

    120Hz


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